Germany non-comittal on civil nuclear coop with India

Published: Tuesday, September 9, 2008, 21:03 [IST]

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New Delhi, Sep 9 (UNI) Two days after the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)'s waiver to India, Germany was today non-committal on civil nuclear cooperation with India saying it would wait for the outcome of the ongoing discussions in that country on the usage of nuclear power for energy.

German Minister for Education and Research Dr Annette Schavan, currently on a two-day visit to India, said she was personally in favour of civilian nuclear cooperation with India.

The subject (use of nuclear energy) is still under discussion in Germany. The issue would be taken up as and when Germany is ready, she said at a joint press conferece with Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal.

Mr Sibal echoed the German Minister's observations.

Germany, the current Chair of the NSG, played a crucial role in securing the NSG waiver. It circulated the revised draft of the agreement which was debated at the NSG on September 4-5, finally leading to a waiver on September 6.

Germany currently fulfils about 20 per cent of its energy requirements from nuclear energy. However, there is a debate going on in the country whether to use civilian nuclear energy or not.

The German Minister, accompanied by a large delegation of officials of the department of education and research, arrived in Chennai yesterday where she attended the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Indo-German Cooperation in Higher Education.

She arrived in Delhi today and the two Ministers inaugurated the Indo-German Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC). Both countries would contribute 10 million euros each over a period of five years for the centre.

The IGSTC is designed to support projects with the participation of the industry mainly in the field of science, humanities and engineering. The first six projects, funded with 500,000 euros, have already been cleared.

The two countries also decided to take further their cooperation in S and T by launching a new campaign -- 'India and Germany -- Strategic Partners in Innovation' -- a new German initiative aimed at promotion of international scientific cooperation.